Aruba MAS series SFP+ & POE+ switches sub-$100

[cheezehead]

Looks like pricing has dropped a bit on some older Aruba MAS series switches on eBay.

S2500-48T (4x SFP+, 48x 1GB)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Aruba-Networks-S2500-48T-4x10G-Mobility-Access-Switch-10-100-1000-48-Ports/273628690778 - $99 shipped
New Aruba S2500-48T-4x10G 48-Port 10/100/1000 Mobility Access Switch | eBay - $75 shipped (no ears)

S2500-48P (4x SFP+, 48x 1GB POE+)
Aruba S2500-48P-US 48-Port Gigabit Ethernet Mobility Access Switch | eBay - $99 shipped
- fyi, the POE+ is oversubscribed (13 max ports running at POE+, all could be POE)

S2500-24P (4x SFP+, 24x 1GB POE+)
Aruba S2500-24P-US 24-Port Gigabit Ethernet Mobility Access Switch | eBay - $90 shipped
- fyi, the POE+ is oversubscribed (13 max ports running at POE+, all could be POE)
- idle draw per Reddit is showing around 50w (Aruba S2500 Mobility Access Switches - why are these so cheap? : homelab)

EOS but still getting software updates for a few more years (Lifetime Warranty Software). Also worth noting, these are shallow switches so if your space constrained on depth, they are only 12.5" deep.

• Autosensing 100-240 VAC, 150 watts (T models)
• Autosensing 100-240 VAC, 580 watts (P models)
• PoE budget: 400 watts

Quickspecs mirror: Quickspecs Aruba S2500 Mobility Access Switch


In case your looking for dual power supplies and non-oversubscribed POE+ ports
S3500-48P (4x SFP+ via module, 48x 1GB POE+, dual hot-swap power supplies)
Aruba Networks S3500-48P PoE 48-Port Gigabit Mobility Switch DUAL PSU-1050-AC 706919563598 | eBay - $122 shipped
- these are the more common 17.5" depth

S3500 Quickspecs: www.nvc.co.jp/pdf/product/aruba/DS_S3500.pdf


Both switches do have integration options for Aruba controllers but it is not a functional requirement.

 

[ViciousXUSMC]

Any idea of noise levels? Especially the Non PoE version?
A fan mod probably would not be hard if needed but curious.

 

[cheezehead]

Any idea of noise levels? Especially the Non PoE version?
A fan mod probably would not be hard if needed but curious.

S2500 max is 42dB, theS3500 max is 48dB (single PSU) or 55dB (dual PSU). They ramp up to this during boot (likely during heavy load...warm temps as well).

 

[hlidskialf]

In for a S2500-24P. I really have to stop checking this forum, it's getting expensive.

 

[ViciousXUSMC]

Sounds good. Probably will pick up the non poe model just for power savings since I do not need the PoE at this time.
Hurts to only save a few $ when PoE is so cheap but that 50w idle vs what I imagine is probably less than 10w for the standard model adds up over time.

The brand new one for $75 looks great, and i'll just fabricate my own ears for it.

Edit: Ok got me to bite.

$120ish out the door on ebay for 3x Mellanox ConnectX2, 3x Finisar FTLX8571D3BNL SPF+ modules, and the $75 new switch linked above.

Been doing a lot of work with my media collection on my NAS and since I am managing via my windows PC to move things from A to B it is using the network. This will speed up the process significantly and give me the opportunity to check out Aruba CLI.

The reddit thread linked above was very useful for some info, it seems some people had no issues with modules but others had a ton of issues, so I went directly off the Aruba compatibility chart to play it safe, and for the used stuff on ebay its cheaper than FiberStore stuff anyways.

I'll post back to this same thread with the power draw figures for the non poe model since that information I could not find anywhere. I assume just from what I know of other switches it should be quite a bit less.

 

[cheezehead]

Sounds good. Probably will pick up the non poe model just for power savings since I do not need the PoE at this time.
Hurts to only save a few $ when PoE is so cheap but that 50w idle vs what I imagine is probably less than 10w for the standard model adds up over time.

The brand new one for $75 looks great, and i'll just fabricate my own ears for it.

Edit: Ok got me to bite.

$120ish out the door on ebay for 3x Mellanox ConnectX2, 3x Finisar FTLX8571D3BNL SPF+ modules, and the $75 new switch linked above.

Been doing a lot of work with my media collection on my NAS and since I am managing via my windows PC to move things from A to B it is using the network. This will speed up the process significantly and give me the opportunity to check out Aruba CLI.

The reddit thread linked above was very useful for some info, it seems some people had no issues with modules but others had a ton of issues, so I went directly off the Aruba compatibility chart to play it safe, and for the used stuff on ebay its cheaper than FiberStore stuff anyways.

I'll post back to this same thread with the power draw figures for the non poe model since that information I could not find anywhere. I assume just from what I know of other switches it should be quite a bit less.

I couldn't find power numbers on the 48P, will post as well. DAC cables are always touchy, planning on re-using some SR optics to avoid the issue.

 

[james23]

(good prices!)

correct me if im wrong, but the poe over subscription isnt too bad:

ie 400watts on 24 ports should be enough for 24x at poe AF , but at 48 ports your cutting it much tigher, depending upon your devices. However alot of, even poe+ devices use under 10watts. im mainly talking about APs and IP cams (non ptz), i rarely see IP cams get above 4watts , or 8-9watts with their IR on. im usually using pretty mfg/quality good ip cams though

in terms of APs, we use ruckus and mikrotik mostly, and those APs are 3-8watts even at load. (there are exceptions ofcourse)

looking at a live 24port switch , all ports used of ruckus r310 (AC , 2 streams, 2 radios) , decently loaded (about 120mbit running total) = 72watts right now.

another live 24port , all ports used of ruckus 7372 (N , 2 streams, 2 radios) , decently loaded (about 70mbit running total) = 56watts right now.

from those switches specs sheet that you linked above
Power Options

• Integrated power supply
• Autosensing 100-240 VAC, 150 watts (T models)
• Autosensing 100-240 VAC, 580 watts (P models)
• PoE budget: 400 watts

edit: poe sws spec sheet pdf , says poe 400w budget on both:
https://www.barcodediscount.com/pdf/Aruba/s2500.pdf

 

[ViciousXUSMC]

Hey everyone. Checking in.
Got my NEW Aruba S2500-48T today when I got home from work.

Have been messing with it for the last 2 hours.

Since this is a real deal enterprise switch, you kind of have to know some stuff to get it up and working, also it's old so there are some issues to work around.

Firstly I got the 48T instead of the 48P because I do not need PoE right now and I expected the noise and power consumption to be lower. I can't say if this is true since I do not have a 48P to compare it up against but I can tell you.

1.) It's not loud, you can definitely hear it but its not a screamer at all. Remember fans are on the side not to the rear.
2.) It uses more power than I thought it would. Reports from Reddit of about 50w idle on the PoE version. My non PoE version is idling at 45w and you can feel a bit of warm air coming from it.

In the average home you will need to use Ethernet to configure. There is a menu button on the front that can be used to launch a quick setup GUI mode. This kicks off a DHCP service and a 10 minute timer. Connect something to the switch (access port on the front, not the rear management port) and let it pull DHCP or give yourself an IP that is 172.16.0.1 up to 172.16.0.253. The switch itself will be at 172.16.0.254.

Issue #1 was figuring out how to do this, I figured just plug in the MGMT port and it would pull DHCP and I connect. NOPE...
Issue #2 once you get that quick setup GUI going, it was difficult to connect to it. I was able to reach the page via a browser but it was blank.
Tried IE first, the Chrome, Then Firefox, Then Edge. None of them worked. I got a couple of strange errors that I didn't find good answers too.

Solution: for the default firmware version it came with 7.1.3.2 I got the webGUI to work using IE and putting it into compatibility mode.

I then stepped through the setup and got an initial configuration done.

At the end I updated to the newest firmware 7.4.0.4 and did a reboot.

Once back up, no longer could I see anything in IE. Now on the new firmware Firefox works well!
Maybe if I turn compatibility mode off it will fix it, but I do not use IE anyways.

The next observation I have is that it has 4xSFP+ ports for 10gb networking (the entire reason I got it) but I only see 2 interfaces listed in both the CLI or GUI the other two must be dedicated to stacking operations so I do not know how they will function.

I also am a Cisco guy so I am used to seeing interface speeds denote the name of the interface but this switch has every interface listed as GE and that to me means Gigabit Ethernet even for the two 10gb ports.

So I am not sure yet if and how well this will work trying to push 4x 10gb devices, maybe as a simple layer 2 it will work fine but for any sort of configuration (vlan, etc) those 2nd two ports may not be compatible.

If anybody else knows more or wants to key in please do!

P.S. I really want to get a S2500 48P now so I can see if the noise/energy is close but I can't justify buying something just to play with it.

Edit: Figured it out.

You can not do anything with the in the GUI as far as I can tell from from a SSH CLI session you can see them under:

Show Stacking Interface
It listed stack1/2 and stack1/3 nothing even close to GE0/1/0 and GE0/1/1 where I was guessing the stacking port would be GE0/1/2 and GE0/1/3

Then follow with the commands
delete stacking interface stack 1/2
delete stacking interface stack 1/3

Now I have 4 interfaces for 10gb ready to rock.

 

[james23]

i have a few of the 48p versions of this coming in thursday. so ill be able to post/give you some power numbers from them.

tks for all that info, it will help save some time when i get these!

 

[ViciousXUSMC]

I am working on fabricating brackets for mounting now and making the fans quiet.
Uses a 40x40x28mm 4 pin fan. I think a Noctua fan will be an easy direct swap, but @$15 each it would cost me almost as much for fans as for the switch so trying the LNA (Low Noise Adapter) first to see how the stock fans behave.

Also the stock fans are 9000+ RPM and 45DBA the Noctua is only like 14DBA but also only 5000rpm with 1/3 of the CFM so not sure if it will keep up with the demands on airflow (probably will, since the stock fans were in low mode, so the Noctua fans can run comfortably in high mode)

I took the switch apart last night and the inside is mighty beefy, I wonder if the Non PoE model is the PoE model just with PoE disabled and that is why my power draw is so high.

Not a good time right now financially to buy another switch as my wife is out of work, so hope to see the PoE version still for $100 down the road especially if you find the power draw to be the same.

Later on I am going to disable unused ports and see if I get savings, and I plan to do some videos on how to configure this thing since it's an awesome switch IMO.

 

[kiteboarder]

Hi all,

HUGE thanks to ViciousXUSMC to get me going. Here's some text added to his comments that might help a newbie like me enable all four 10Gb ports.

These steps use standard Ethernet cables to configure.

There is a menu button on the front that can be used to launch a quick setup GUI mode. This kicks off a DHCP service and a 10 minute timer.

Connect your machine to the switch (using a regular port on the front, not the rear management port) and let your machine pull and IP from the switch's DHCP, or manually give yourself an IP that is 172.16.0.1 up to 172.16.0.253. (Do not otherwise connect your machine to your network.)

The switch itself will be at 172.16.0.254.

Use a web browser to go to: 172.16.0.254
do quick setup, mainly set passwords:
1) admin/admin123 (these are aruba defaults)
2) enable password: enable
3) set DHCP option to allow your router to do it
push setup

After it pushes, connect ethernet cables as you normally would to your network.
Remove your manually set IP if you did that step on your machine.

Use web browser to go to: 192.168.0.252 (or whatever your router/DHCP assigned to the switch)
login: admin/admin123
note yellow stacking icons on two of the 10GB interfaces

use putty to go to switch IP (192.168.0.252), SSH mode
admin / admin123

type: enable
password: enable

Then follow with the commands:
delete stacking interface stack 1/2
delete stacking interface stack 1/3

Watch the yellow "stacking" icons on the webpage turn black. Might need to refresh page.

done!

 

[kiteboarder]

One last note, I bought the S2500 48P from the second link in the O.P. Seller accepted B.O. of $90. Crazy good packaging. Switch is used, but highly recommended.

I decided not to get the S3500 since I didn't need that many PoE watts and it looks like it requires 20A cables.

 

[ViciousXUSMC]

I also managed to grab a S2500-24P today for $50 on offer ($20ish for shipping) I figured do not need 48 ports and that extra space in the case means an easy fan mod should I need to quiet it down.

Now I just need to fix my network adapter issue, I got the switch and ordered the wrong kind of NIC.

 

[klammore]

Gotta resist buying a S2500-48P.... I already have to many poe access switches.

 

[ViciousXUSMC]

Serious question how would everybody rate this switch (S2500 All Models) vs say the Microtik CRS226-24G-2S+ ?
I would put Aruba ahead in terms of "Enterprise Class" vs Microtik but the Microtik is much newer so its like saying I have a GTX 980 (top dog in the day) vs a GT 1060 now (low end) but the GT1060 is so much newer it beats the pants off an old card.

You think that applies to switches?

I am sure the Microtik is quieter, and uses less power, and from what I can see has many of the same features. The main reason I went with this was 4x SFP+ ports and it was cheaper. However the Microtik is NEW not used.

The other big reason is because I read about some issues on Microtik with speed loss due to a buffer issue when going from 10gb to 1gb.

I am going to get rid of my Ubiquiti US-24 it just is not feature rich enough for me and that will almost pay for both of these switches I got.
Still was keeping an eye on the Microtik however also the newer 4x SFP+ mini switch they have.

 

[kiteboarder]

Over the past 3 years I've had bad experiences with Mikrotik poor build quality. And then a bad experience with Ubiquity purposely removing manual fan control and forcing switches to run at 70 C. They have figured out their business model with a 1 year warranty. So I've just made the, ahem, switch to real enterprise class gear. But as you note, you have to be careful with noise and power consumption.

I've never much understood the point of 2 port SFP+, unless you're truly using them for uplink aggregation. I just highly doubt most homelab people will be doing that though. (Otherwise just direct connect your two boxes of interest and skip the switch entirely.)

I think 4 port is the minimum requirement if you're going 10 Gb. Hard to pass this up at $90 or less. And if you don't like it, sell it and get back most of your money.

 

[cheezehead]

Basic management IP without the wizard is (after logged in and enabled)

configure terminal
interface vlan 1 .....could be any vlan ID, that's just the default

ip address 10.0.0.5 255.255.255.0
exit
write memory

If you want to use the out of band management
configure terminal
interface mgmt

I picked up the 48P and vs Mikrotik you gain POE+ (got a couple ap's hanging off mine), 24GB ports, 2x10GB ports. These will get firmware updates through December of 21'. The CLI on these is really a lite version of an Aruba Controller running on 6.x code base. The Web interface is pretty basic (but doesn't have a flash or java dependency).

At the end I updated to the newest firmware 7.4.0.4 and did a reboot.

Just an FYI, 7.4.1.10 (7/13/18) is the latest build currently.
https://h10145.www1.hpe.com/downloads/SoftwareReleases.aspx?ProductNumber=JY287A ...requires a passport account but doesn't require any paid subs for download access.

Somewhere along the code switches the port from 80/443 to 4343 for the web gui just in case some are having issues getting to it.

 

[ViciousXUSMC]

Oh nice HPE has newer OS files, I was getting them from here: Lifetime Warranty Software

 

[blood]

Maybe I should move this to the networking forum, but I'm going to ask here anyways. Has anyone had any luck getting the 10g ports on these to work with DACs? I have a handful that I've been using with some Netgear switches and they work fine there, but I don't get link when I plug them into my new s2500. Fibers and sfp+ optics are working fine, but I'd rather go DAC if I could.

The only error I see is:

Jan 12 16:10:57 :335311: <WARN> |ChassisManager| Configuration parameters under enet profile (10g) does not match for interface GE0/1/3, Ignoring the configuration

but I get that when I insert an sfp+ optical modules, and it goes away and works fine once I plug in fiber. I've mucked about with ethernet profiles but can't get anywhere. I thought I might have to enable unsupported transceivers, but that doesn't seem to work on this switch - and it seems to take any optical transceivers I throw at it anyways.

Do I maybe need different DACs?

 

[cheezehead]

Has anyone had any luck getting the 10g ports on these to work with DACs? I have a handful that I've been using with some Netgear switches and they work fine there, but I don't get link when I plug them into my new s2500. Fibers and sfp+ optics are working fine, but I'd rather go DAC if I could.

I did test a procurve J9283b dac and it worked fine. Most of the sfp+ optics I had laying around for netgear/procurve/qlogic all worked just fine, outside of some FC-coded modules.